Thammasat University students interested in cultural sociology, history, political science, consumer studies, capitalism, social theory, religion, and related subjects may find a new book useful.
Hipsterism: A Paradigm for Modernity is an Open Access book available for free download at this link.
The Thammasat University Library collection includes several books about different aspects of hipsterism.
Its author is Dr. Tara Semple, a cultural sociologist based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Hipsterism is an ironic term for a 21st century fashion and style subculture.
Members of the subculture typically do not call themselves hipsters, and may even see the term as an insult, as if they were too worried about seeming trendy.
Hipsters typically wear vintage clothing, alternative fashion, or mixtures of different fashions, often including skinny jeans, checked shirts, knit beanies, a full beard or moustache, and thick-rimmed or lensless glasses.
The subculture is often associated with indie and alternative music.
In the United States, it is mostly associated with privileged white young adults. The subculture has been criticized for lacking authenticity as well as promoting conformity and consumerism.
Major cities where hipsters may be found include the largest cities in the United States of America, Canada, and Europe.
The Introduction to Hipsterism: A Paradigm for Modernity begins:
Well, I think hipster is just a fashionable term, like generation golf or millenial. It doesn’t really mean anything.
This was the first comment I heard after I presented my proposal to the institute. The term hipster at times seems like an empty signifier. The first obstacle when trying to identify what and who is hipster and why, is that no one admits to being one, and everyone that does have an opinion on what being hipster means, starts listing everything a Hipster is not.
The aim of this dissertation thesis is to analyse the phenomenon of hipsterism with a cultural sociological approach, as an example of new forms of conceptions and cultural practice within recent modernity.
Hipsterism is especially distinguished by the strong desire for individualism. This makes it a phenomenon that is exceptionally significant for a cultural sociological analysis of modern society. The influences of a capitalistic, affluent society on the development of forms of alternative lifestyle and the development of identity and building of groups can be derived by a deeper understanding of hipsterism. By understanding hipsterism is meant understanding both the practices of hipsterism and the manner in which Hipsters interact within societal circumstances. Hipsterism is shaped through a conceptual framework that also is significant for capitalist, globalised and consumerist societies at large.
Defining hipsterism had a few challenges that I encountered, such as the one I quoted above. One especially interesting challenge is that hipsterism is a very current phenomenon that is subject to frequent change and also is strongly associated with individualism, which makes it difficult to categorise and define Hipsters as a group, or to objectify them under this label in any way. Furthermore, the defensive attitude against labelling and stereotyped thinking supplemented with an almost fierce yearning for individualism causes many to deny they are Hipsters and requires precise observation to develop to a definition. A particularly interesting factor is that Hipsters create hipsterism themselves – not by defining hipsterism, but by their practices, and paradoxically by distancing themselves from the label Hipster. The concept of hipsterism is based on a refusal of a categorisation and defence against any attempts at a definition. This constant avoidance and resistance, supplemented with recurrent change in order to distance from the ordinary or conventional, is a main characteristic of hipsterism.
Because it is in a fluid state and its features are vague, the objectification of the concept of hipsterism is a major difficulty. Moreover, hipsterism is associated with youth culture and is mainly founded in consumption patterns. Hipsterism could be interpreted as a mere consumption of commercial fashion and Hipsters could be defined as mere imitators of a collective fashion style. If Hipsters are merely fashionable imitators, no underlying connection to the social structure and conflicts of society should be found. These factors, as well as the notion of extreme individualism and the actors’ refusal of a definition, could lead to the presumption that hipsterism as a concept has only very little influence on the development of identity.
Under such circumstances, one could even doubt any definition of hipsterism as a sociologically identifiable social form is possible. However, the observation of the social milieu associated with it raises the assumption that in our globalised and digitalised modern age, hipsterism demonstrates a specific mode of identity typical for our fluid, modern society.
This is the focal point of my work… I had noticed that there was constant adaption of hipster fashion trends, but being called hipster was an accusation or an embarrassing act of labelling. The act of belonging together, by distancing, seemed to work in practice, even though I could not explain it through the theories I knew. I also observed strong criticism of consumption, even though the milieu described as hipster was consuming in an identity shaping way. The respondents denied the label Hipster, but identified as vegans or ethical or low-waste consumers. The way they spoke still expressed collectivity. I observed highly politicised statements being made, but a distancing to politics happening at the same time. Generally there were many discrepancies between what was being said, how it was being portrayed, and what was being done.
This is where my research comes from, a place of genuine curiosity about the people around me and the subtle art of being cool. Being hipster was navigated by many balance acts and could not be merely explained away by distinction.
Because it became clear that the Hipster as an ideal type does not exist in a sociologically identifiable way but is rather a descriptive term for various cultural practices, designated as hipster, in this work the term is mostly used as an adjective and not a noun. When referring to a a possible ideal type, a Hipster will be capitalised; hipsterism in turn describes the social milieu that I observed and the practices undergone in this milieu collectively in a holistic way.
My procedure was along an emergent design, which allows for the story of hipsterism to gradually unfold along participant observation complemented by self-reflection throughout this work, taking you on a journey of how recognising that hipsterism was more than merely a distinction mechanism made it worthy of a serious sociological consideration. Hipsterism emerged slowly and gradually as a model for the development of agency in a complex, liquid, consumerist and globalised world. Actions within hipsterism did not stem from a lack of understanding how to contribute to progress in the world, but rather emerged as young people searched for ways of effective engagement, expressing their solidarity towards an imagined global community, and raising conscious consumption to a politically intended lifestyle.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)